VIDEO: The Nonviolent Palestinian Movement You've Never Heard Of

TED Talk: Julia Bacha "Pay Attention To Nonviolence"

Pete Seeger: Descendend From Killers

“You and I are descended from killers. If you weren’t a good killer you didn’t survive. For millions of years we’ve had good killers and if we didn’t you and I wouldn’t be here today. So, you might say there was a time when the human race needed good killers. But now, if we don’t change our way of thinking, there will be no more human race here. Because science acts very irresponsibly. Some information is good, but some information we need to forget about until we solve some other problems first. Einstein is the first person who said that. He said, “Everything has changed now, except our way of thinking, and we’ve got to find ways to change our way of thinking.”” – Peter Seeger.

 

MLK on Non-Violence

Stunning Snapshots of Peace in Times of War

Songs of Peace | Kiev, Ukraine: "The 2013 protests were shrouded with violence from both sides, including 200 protesters who commandeered a digger and attacked the presidential palace. The protests and riots followed the Government’s decision to side with Russia rather than the European Union."

 A rose among thorns | Bangkok, Thailand: A rose is passed form an anti-government protestor to a solider on the other side of a barbed wire fence.

Hug it Out | Bogota, Columbia: During protests for education reform, a peaceful protestor extends a little love to the riot police

Mirrored Reflections | Georgia, USA: "The young child in KKK attire became famous when this image hit the presses because of the way that it showed the innocence of children. Although the child is only known by his first name, Josh, the photographer and trooper met in 2012, 20 years after the image was taken."

Happy Birthday | Brazil, 2013: Protesters bring a cake to an officer who had to work on his birthday. Instant BFF status.

Clean the Streets | London, England: Citizens partner to clean up the streets of London after the riots in 2011.

Make Love Not Riot | Vancouver, BC: After hockey fans took to the street after their home team suffered a loss (to the tune of $5 million in damages), an injured woman's boyfriend stops for a kiss before helping her up and out of there.

If your enemy is hungry... | Columbia, 2013: Protestors feed the riot police with crackers after a long standoff between the two sides.

Defender of the Weak | Bolgota, Columbia: Unarmed woman de-esculates angry rioters, averting violence against cornered police.

The prayers of a people | Cairo, Egypt: Christians surround devout Muslims as they pray, while the revolution wages on around them. The favor was later returned.

A truce, of sorts | Cairo, Egypt: Countrymen grasp hands after soldiers refuse commands to fire upon unarmed civilians.


War and violence are universal, but so is the beauty of peace.

[For more on these and other inspiring photos, visit this link. Hat Tip to PFC Fighter, Jeff Partain for the link.]

Freedom Song Friday: "We Are America" - Esperanza Spaulding's New Music Video Protests Guantanamo Bay

Esperanza Spaulding — Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter — released a new video which levels its aims at Guantanamo Bay by raising awareness of the Guantanamo Bay inmate hunger strike, and pleads with Congress to shut down the prison. In her words:

What motivated you to start this whole project to begin with, what was the spark?
It was the first time I heard about the hunger strike. I was touring in Europe and I was appalled and embarrassed about what was happening. I remember I started researching online to see what I could do about it and I saw that I could download this action pack. With that you had some important info to use to call your representative. And I did, I did call my representative and Senators. In fact, I got a letter back from one Senator who basically said that she was not going to proactively deal with it but that they would ‘keep my comments in mind’, or something like that. But I really wanted to do more. And my band actually came to me first and said they wanted to do something too.

[Read more: ACLU.org | Hat Tip: Colorlines.com]

TED TALK: Scilla Elworthy: Fighting with non-violence